Schroeder's piano
On September 24th 1951, Charlie Brown introduced Schroeder to his piano. He told Schroeder it was easy, then hit a few notes. Then Schroeder played a real song, leaving Charlie Brown to shame. Ever since them, Shroeder always played his toy piano. A few times, Charlie Brown tried getting Scroeder to switch from his toy piano to a real piano, but that just made Schroeder cry. Ever since May 30th 1953, when Lucy first fell in love with Schroeder, she was always leaning against Schroeders piano, which annoys Schroeder. The piano's capability is illustrated in 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas. Lucy asks Schroed er to play "Jingle Bells". Schroeder plays it in the style of a conventional piano, then manages to generate the warm tones of a Hammond organ, but Lucy cannot recognize the tune until the now-irritated Schroeder plays it, off-key with one finger, in the tones of a normal toy piano. It's the only time in the history of the television specials that his toy piano ever actually sounds like a toy piano, with 'plinking' sounds. In 1966's It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Schroeder accommodated Snoopy (who was dressed in his World War I Flying Ace outfit) by playing a brief medley of World War I songs at Violet's Halloween Party; such as "Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag", "Roses of Picardy", and others. Schroeder is normally a very passive character, content to play his music, but he can be angered quite easily, especially if his music or his idol Beethoven are insulted. In one short, Lucy points out to him the woefully inadequate single-octave range of a toy piano; an angry Schroeder yanks it out from under, causing her to conk her head on the floor. This became a frequent running gag in the strip's later years. On another occasion, Lucy asked if pianists make a lot of money, and Schroeder flew into a rage: "Who cares about money?! This is art, you blockhead! This is great music I'm playing, and playing great music is an art! Do you hear me? An art! Art! Art! Art! Art! Art!" (the last five words punctuated by slamming his hands against his piano). However, when Lucy asks the same question in the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Schroeder admits: "Some do, if they practice real hard, I guess." In the Charlie Brown Christmas special, Lucy tells Schroeder that Beethoven "wasn't so great". When Schroeder defensively demands an explanation, Lucy replies that Beethoven has never been on a bubble gum card and that one cannot be considered great without appearing on one. He also plays the CinemaScope extension of the 20th Century Fox fanfare on his piano during the 20th Century Fox logo in Snoopy Come Home, but unfortunately Paramount Pictures edited it out. The musical notes Schroeder plays also seem to have substance; characters are able to touch them as they appear in the air. Snoopy, for example, once decorated a took a handful of them, and roasted them over a campfire, and has on at least one occasion been seen dancing atop the musical staff containing the notes. And starting on October 9th 1989, the notes started falling off Schroeder's piano (Snoopy always tried putting them back on). Lucy has often spoken of getting Schroeder to give up his piano, such as getting him to realize that married life has financial hardships and he may have to sell his piano in order to buy her a good set of saucepans. On two occasions, Lucy went so far as to destroy Schroeder's piano in an attempt to be rid of the "competition" for his affection, but both attempts failed: *In a series of strips from January 1969, Lucy threw the piano into a tree, which was later discovered to be none other than a dreaded Kite-Eating Tree, which evidently didn't distinguish between kites and toy pianos. When Schroeder ordered a replacement, Charlie Brown asked if his piano was covered by insurance, to which Schroeder replied, "How do you explain to the insurance company that your piano was eaten by a tree?". *In her second attempt, from an October 1974 strip series, Lucy threw the piano into the sewer, from which Charlie Brown and Schroeder attempted to retrieve it. Schroeder was able to reach it, but it was stuck, and then when it started raining heavily the piano was washed out to sea. *Another time Lucy destroyed both his piano and his bust of Beethoven; Schoeder calmly picked out a new piano and bust from a closet well-stocked with duplicate pianos and busts. External links *[http://comics.com/peanuts/1951-09-24/ Shroeder starts playing the piano in the Peanuts comic strip from September 24, 1951.] *[http://comics.com/peanuts/1989-10-09/ The notes start falling off of Schroeder's piano in the Peanuts comic strip from Octiber 9, 1998.] Category:Recurring themes